


absolute zero

by mesoquatic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Castaway AU, Flashbacks, KEITH FIC, Kinda canon, M/M, Nightmare, Stranded, its 10k of him just stranded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-27 02:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15676380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mesoquatic/pseuds/mesoquatic
Summary: Recover. Recover. Recover.Keep going.





	absolute zero

Keith focused on the screens in front of him, barely recognizing the voices in his ear piece. He grit his teeth as they all continued to attack. Another shot, two, three. They needed to be quicker, more unpredictable, and precise. Voltron was here to stay.

Slam. Crash. Damage.

They were forced out of formation. Keith closed his eyes only for a second. As vulnerable as they were now, they had to keep going.

Crash. Damage. Recover.

Deep breath. In and out. Crash.

Recover. Recover. _Recover._

“We have to get out of here!”

“They’ll get away!”

“If we don’t stop, they’ll rip us apart.”

“This has been our only lead for six months!”

“Keith, we need to go!”

“Then disassemble! I’ll keep going and you all can go back to the castle!”

“We are a team!”

Inhale. Shock. Outhale.

Open your eyes. Look around. Scan.

“Keith, we aren’t going to leave you behind!”

“Then keep fighting!”

“Pidge is already knocked out! We need to go back!”

“We can’t lose him!”

“Do you want Pidge to die?”

“I’ll keep going! Go!”

Scan. Scan. _Scan._

Lift your head. Really open your eyes. Stop sleeping.

“Keith, your lion is damaged! You’re going to die!”

“Then let me do it if it means I’ll beat them!”

“They’ll destroy you!”

“Lance is right. We need to go.”

Slam. Falling. Gain back control.

“We’ve almost got them!”

“Keith, we’re a team! You can’t do this alone! You’ll get yourself killed if you keep fighting!”

“My life and theirs dead are better than millions of more innocent lives!”

“You’re coming from the right place, but we know what they’re like now. We have this information and we can come after them once we know we have better defenses and plans.”

“And how long will that be from now? Years?”

Alarm sirens. Red. Brown.

Blue. Warp hole. Gone.

“It’s closing! You won’t make it! We need to go!”

“Keith, what are you doing?”

Communications muted. Video calls paused. Keep going.

Faster. Keep it up. Lean forward.

Portal opened. Portal closed. New place.

Flying. Stuttering. More alerts.

Too much. Falling. No way out.

Crashing. Slam. Lights out.

Keith opened his eyes and looked around. Soon, it became frantic. There was a crack in his helmet and all of the screens in front of him were offline. He couldn’t even see outside. Wires were sparking and he was sitting diagonally, both in the chair and the lion itself. It was just enough to notice.

His bayard was on the dashboard, still functional at the touch. He still had his blade at his waist. Soon he got up, ignoring the shards of glass and the sting at his side. First, he tried the dashboard. After minutes of fumbling around, all he got was nothing. One slam of the fist down and an alert message came up. The text flickered before the voice over came on.

“All main power units are down. Please follow protocol-pro-pro-”

Keith slammed down on the board again when the voice and text sputtered out. He groaned before starting for the exit of the machine. It took some struggle, having to avoid spills of liquids and open wires. Soon enough, he was to the door. With some slamming, he got it to open and reveal his surroundings.

Ahead of him seemed like an endless waste of red rock. Wind pushed along small rocks and sand over the surface. Even with how much it resembled Mars, it was still unsettling with how foreign it felt. Even with the wind, it felt like he was dying in the heat. Either it was the planet or his suit overheating from being stuck in the lion for only hell knows how long.

Keith leaned against the lion and looked up at the sky. A sun in the sky meant that he had light for a while. If the planet was even rotating was still up to question, not to mention if it even had an atmosphere. Though, the air from the suit would only last so long, let alone the oxygen in the lion.

Communication. That had to be his first priority. He had shelter and supplies in the cargo bay. He could last a long time on what he had. But, by the looks of it, he would have to repair a lot of the lion’s parts before he could even think of getting out any type of signal. Out of the supplies he had, he really wasn’t sure he would have what he needed to fix anything, let alone how to fix the lion if he had what he thought he needed.

These are the days that he wishes he had some sort of training in the Altean language so he could read some kind of manual if there was one. A physical copy, that is. An English to Altean translator book would have been quite handy right about now, and, seeing as everyone in the universe seemed to know how to speak English despite barely anyone knowing of Earth or have been to it, it was more likely that none of those existed seeing as Altea fell before the Romans and Egyptians showed up.

After a short sigh, Keith went back into his lion. All this talk of fixing the lion was not doing anything. He needed to get started. Without the lion working, he’d have to work during the day when he could get some light. The flashlight on his helmet won’t last long if it’s being constantly used. Conservation was best at the moment.

Though the idea of conservation only lasted a week before everything started to go to shit. A whole week and Keith had nothing to show for it except wasted supplies trying to repair a broken spaceship on who knows what planet. A whole week and all that was fixed was the whole in the door into the lion. Now that it was fixed, he didn’t have wind constantly blowing in and occasionally bringing tiny space bugs and rocks.

If only it was Hunk who was stranded, or at least stranded with Keith. No to say that he’d rather Hunk be in this position, but at least Hunk had a better chance at fixing this damn thing! Or Pidge! Pidge probably knew all five of the lions and the castle like the back of her own hand by now! Out of all the drills and missions they ran, they couldn’t even sit down and learn from someone how to fix these things? He guesses that saving the universe was more important than being stranded on the side of the space road because your space car’s engine stuttered before stopping completely. Erase the space part and make it a human car and he’d know how to fix it all.

Except, even with a week good and all that supplies, complaining couldn’t do him much good. If he didn’t have the skills to fix the hunk of metal, the least he could do is try to make a signal that wasn’t connected to the lion. Sadly, it wouldn’t work well unless the castle or another lion flew just by the planet close enough to see it, whether flare or giant message in the sand. They’d pick up signature of the lion before they even got close enough to see any messages Keith found. Radio message, though? That was a nice plan if he was prepared for the possible attacks by the Galra or some other group against the idea of Voltron, not that there are many. He would not be able to hold off a whole fleet of anything with a broken lion and two swords. He’s a sitting duck. Was he just going to sit and do nothing or was he going to figure it out? Well, he was a week into trying to figure it out and he was tired of being wrong.

With the idea of having someone stranded with him on his mind, even if he was lucky enough to get someone to be here with him, the universe would add to his misfortune and force Lance to be the one there. If Keith was doomed to be here until he dies, he’d rather spend it with the space mice over Lance any day.

Again, thinking about all of this wasn’t going to do Keith anything. What he needed to do, because his first plan failed, was figure out this planet and find out if there is any way that he was lucky enough to land somewhere that he can syphon energy from something to power the lion. If good old technology can’t get it to work, then magic can.

Keith’s first test? Check if he could actually breath the air or if there wasn’t enough atmosphere to create oxygen. It was starting to get stuffy in his helmet. That and the oxygen from his suit would only last he so much longer.

He got up from where he was sitting in the cargo bay and started for the entrance. The place was trashed. Many of the boxes holding items had broken into pieces and splinters upon impact of the planet. He let the door open and he stepped down onto the surface, kicking a rock off into the distance. Gravity at least existed and he did not have to worry about floating off to the other side of the planet.

He took in a deep breath of oxygen from his own suit before lifting his hands up to his helmet. He hesitated for a second, taking his hands away to look down at his arm. He played around with the screen for a while before kicking another rock out of frustration. He grunted. His suit couldn’t even scan around him. Even if he tried to send out a radio message with that, it wouldn’t get farther than the atmosphere. 

What an anticlimactic way to go if he died not from countless battles against the enemies to most of the universe but from an immediate lack of oxygen. No, he wouldn’t die from that. Poisoned air seemed more accurate. It would slowly drove him insane or kill him out right. Again, what a way to go.

Keith took in another deep breath of the good air before lifting his helmet off. He squinted at the sight, used to the dark tint to his helmet that the brightness of the place caught him off guard. He slowly breathed out, letting the oxygen leave his lungs. He held his helmet tightly in hand just in case. He breathed in.

It was dusty, but it was oxygen nonetheless, resembling somewhere like Oklahoma or Nebraska. He coughed into his elbow and looked around him. Without his helmet, it still definitely looked like Mars. The red rock was nothing like anything he’d ever seen before, pigmented but still dull enough not to just look like a painting. It was still as mesmerizing as one.

He put his helmet down inside the lion before stepping forward a few steps. He heard it close and immediately turned back around. Watching it carefully, he took a step forward. It opened. He sighed in relief that at least the door worked from the outside. The heat was still too much to bear in the day. By the looks of the sky above, the planet was revolving around two stars. But, if he wanted to do anything, he would have to wait until they set and it was much cooler. For now, he’ll go back inside before he overheats. As much as he’s looked around inside for anything, maybe there was something he missed.

“Hello. This is Keith. I am a Paladin of Voltron.”

It’s been yet another week. Keith was still there, but this camera, whether it really was a camera or it just worked like one, it seemed right to record something. His idea? A video just in case he perishes. Whoever will find the lion will find it and understand what happened. Of course, there was the possibility that the video sent itself to the castle, but that was just a too good to be true Keith had a dream about a few nights ago.

If anything, it was keeping him semi-sane.

“By now, I know that some people will start to realize my absence other than my team. My absence, and therefore also the absence of Voltron as one being, has most likely taken a toll on our effort.” He took in a deep breath of air and sighed. “And I doubt that my team is still fighting if they cannot form Voltron without my lion. Even if they are, it won’t be as effective as it was before. I hope that whoever finds this and my lion will know of Voltron and they are still alive and well. Maybe you will be able to pick up from where I left off. But, right now, I am still living and still trying to get…” he hesitated for a second, “unstranded.”

Keith clenched his jaw as he looked around. He let the blanket fall off his shoulders. He had changed out of his suit long ago. Having spent a whole week in it was a mistake and made his body sore. He hadn’t found any threat he needed the armor for in the two weeks he’d been here. He took in a deep breath and looked back at the camera.

“I’m running out of supplies. I’ll have to explore more soon, but I can’t leave the lion that long or go farther than eyesight without the fear of coming back to nothing. I can’t let the lion get in the hands of the bad guys as long as I’m alive to protect it.” He paused for another few seconds. “I’m signing off now.”

He turned off the camera without another word. Even if it worked to calm him down a bit talking about some of this, there was still a lot to take it. He was growing a beard and hadn’t had a shower in days. Taking one would be a waste of water at this point. If the landscape outside was more yellow-ish and he was on an ocean shore, he’d feel like the guy from the older movie. Castaway, was it?

Even so, the talking would be nice on his voice. It was hoarse after not talking for just this long. Of course, there was the downside that he would have to drink more water. At least, that’s what the superstition was. There wasn’t a space internet he could search this up on. If anything, that’s the only thing Earth seemed to have going for it. Most of the other planets he’s been to with a civilization were more advanced, but Earth had Google.

Keith leaned against the wall and sighed. All this talk of Earth was making him homesick. It always has and probably always will. There’s no saying they’ll ever make it home after this. He didn’t have a family there, but Hunk and Lance did. Pidge did too. Her brother and father were out here and she could contact them. Her mother was still on Earth without a word from any of them. If they did make it back to Earth, even with being homesick for it, would it even feel like Keith was at home anymore?

Maybe, out there on some planet, his mom was waiting, if she was even alive. She probably didn’t even know he was still alive or that he existed. Sure, she gave birth to him, but it has been a long time. He has no memories of her at all. Was she even family by now? Or were his fellow Paladins and Allura and Coran his family now? They weren’t even with him now. He was alone. Alone was alone, and no language across the whole universe seemed to deem it any better than it was.

Keith was still telling himself the same phrase over and over. Complaining about his problems or feelings would do nothing to fix them. He couldn’t just sit here and wait for rescue. He needed to help them get to him. Whether it was somehow powering the lion, which he had no idea to do except that they would charge in the castle without question, or send out a signal, he needed to figure it out.

He slowly got up and left the blanket behind. He was still sleeping in the cargo bay and had yet to clean up the glass from the main room. Once he found something that resembled a broom, that became his priority. Anything could calm his nerves right now.

After that, he moved on to organizing the cargo bay better than he had it before. Once it was organized, he was surprised to find he had more food than he thought. As much as it raised his morale, he knew in the back of his mind that he couldn’t use more than he had previously just because they had more. Eating more and drinking more meant less and less days he could live off of it. Two meals a day that made him full and a nights rest, thought it had become more of a days rest so he could work without being tired when it was cold enough, was enough to keep him going.

Once that was all over, it was finally cool enough to comfortably work outside. He wasn’t fixing any of the scratches along the surface of the metal, knowing full well the resources were better spent somewhere else other than cosmetics and appearance. Night was when he could explore around and figure out what was around the area. He had yet to find anything. There was still hope, though.

Other than the few bugs he had found and the one spider that scared him half to death before he killed it, there wasn’t any life. There was no oceans or lakes or even puddles. It had yet to even rain and he had yet to even see a cloud. It was clear skies day after day. The view of the stars were one hell of a sight, though. He could sit and stare at it for hours on end. None of the constellations were familiar to him, but he could make his own. After a few tries, he realized it wasn’t for him. Connecting dots without the numbers was a bit too confusing for him. It reminded him of all the times Lance had tried to pull him out to a window to see the stars.

He kept going, nonetheless. Exploring was what he could do for the moment. By just the few minutes he had been outside, it still felt like there was no life around him to be found. If he could just find something, maybe it would feel less lonely being here.

And, for once in such a long time, his luck must have come around. Even with the little amount he was handed, a creature was a creature. He hid behind a rock, careful not to make a sound. On his way back to the lion he had spotted it. It sniffed around the lion with a long snout, searching for something.

The wind came in and the animal was quick to run into a hole in the rock. Keith took in a deep breath. He started to crawl over, knife in hand. Rocks crushed under his shoes. The slight crunch did nothing to help his case. Once he was close enough to the rock, he stopped. He readied his knife.

Nothing happened. He took in a breath slowly, making sure not to make too much sound. He did not have a plan. If it came out of its burrow, Keith had no idea what to do. If it was hostile, that would be enough to make one on the spot. He rotated the knife in his hand.

One slip of his foot across the surface made enough noise to alert the creature. Keith froze, staring back at the blue beedy eyes that had appeared. He tightened his grip on his knife. The light grew brighter.

Within a second, Keith was on the ground. The snout was at his hair, pulling at it with all its strength. He had dropped his knife. Desperately, he searched for it. Once it was in hand, he managed to push the creature off. Now, it was much larger in size. He barely got up before it started to charge. Keith moved out of the way and let it run into a rock. It recovered quickly, letting out a call.

“Shit.” He mumbled. He was hoping whatever sound that was that it didn’t call more to his location. He didn’t have the energy to fight a horde of unknown animals at the moment.

Keith readied his knife with one hand. With the other, he wiped his face of any sweat. Having his armor would have been so much better. Of course, he didn’t. He couldn’t run to get it. He had to use what he had.

When the creature started to charge again, Keith swiped at it. He wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way. The creature knocked him to the ground. He rolled away. Reaching for his knife, his hand was stomped on. The creature growled down at him, spraying a mist of air from the snout all over him. The more he looked at it, the more it looked like some elephant wolf thing.

He used his over hand to reach past the hoof and grab his knife. He immediately stabbed up. It didn’t go in far before it stopped. He wasn’t strong enough in this state to get too far. He grunted. Quickly, he pushed the creature off. He got back up. Immediately, he was back down to try to stab it another place. It got in, but the creature got a bite into his leg. He cried out before stabbing it again. He wobbled as it slowly let out its last breath.

He got up before immediately falling. His heart refused to stop beating in his ear. Slowly, but surely, he made it back to the lion in search of medical supplies.

_”Keith?”_

_Keith frowned from where he was laying in his room and sat up. He clenched his jaw as Lance leaned in the doorway. Lance bit his lip. They avoided eye contact._

_“Did you want to go see the stars with me? They’re nice right now. Everyone else is asleep so it feels like it’s the middle of the night. There’s a few constellations that are similar to ones from home.”_

_Keith sighed before shaking his head. “I’m busy.”_

_Lance froze for a second before nodding. “Right. You always seem to be.”_

_Without another word Lance left. Keith laid back down and stared up at the ceiling._

Something inside of Keith was slowly killing him. Whether it was the still possibly poisoned air, the close to starvation state he was in, his injury, or just the guilt of being such a dick to the only people who wanted to know him for him, he was not really sure. Three days ago he had recorded his first message. Three days ago he got into fight with something. He barely won. His leg hurt like a bitch, even with whatever Altean magic healing stuff he had found.

He had kept himself in bed the first day, but the second day the guilt got to him. He forced himself to get up and move. He refused to go outside. With what he had, he went back to his original plan. This time around, it was more frustrating trying to fix the ship. No matter what he seemed to do, it never worked. The whole in the wall where a wrench fit perfectly was from when he threw one in frustration.

Eventually, he picked up the camera again, staring at it for a long time before turning it on. It was already so different than the first time he recorded.

Keith sighed, feeling the burn in his lungs, before speaking up.

“This is Keith. I’m a Paladin of Voltron.”

He didn’t say anything for the longest time. Instead, he stared off at the wall in front of him. Nothing came to mind. He shook himself out of it and looked back down at the camera.

“It’s been a few days since my last video. I got into a fight with something. My memory of the whole encounter is foggy.” He cleared his throat and adjusted the bandage on his leg. “I haven’t been outside since. I need to recover before I do. Since I’m bound to the inside of the lion, I’m trying to repair the lion as much as possible. It’s… It’s not going the best.”

Keith sighed and rubbed his shoulder before reaching for the blanket next to him. He put down the camera to bring it over his shoulders. Once it was secure, he picked the camera back up and signed off. He turned it off, almost throwing it against the wall. He put it down before throwing the wrench instead. It didn’t make a dent this time.

He could barely take in a deep breath before hiccuping. He brought his knees carefully up to his chest and wrapped the blanket around them as well. He moved his shoulder to wipe at his eyes. Soon enough, he couldn’t keep up with the tears. Sobbing, he pressed his forehead against his knees and hid his face.

“This is Keith.”

It’s been another few days. Keith’s leg was starting to show signs of recovery. He was able to stand on it for maybe thirty minutes before he had to sit down to rest. He still had to push things around that weren’t weightless to him. Too much weight made his leg topple over. At least people weren’t around to see how embarrassing it was to figure that out.

Keith had still yet to go back outside. He stayed inside where he continued to try to fix the lion. He finally got the lights on. When it happened, he cried so much he swore there was a puddle in some dent in the floor. It was much easier to work now. He could work without having to use an outside source of light, making it cooler inside. He wasn’t sweating as much.

“I’m still stranded, obviously.” He whispered quietly. “I’m still here. I got the lights on. It took a good three weeks but I got something. I’m coming up on a full month here. I’m going with thirty days. February is just a myth and thirty-one will just get confused after a few months. Carrying the decimal and other math things. I don’t want to deal with that. Thirty is nice, not that any one who sees this cares.”

He yawned, looking away from the camera to stare at the crate that held the food he left. He leaned over a bit more. Slowly, he let his chin fall to lean on his knees. He looked back down at the camera with a frown.

“It’s been a long time, obviously. Usually three weeks feels like only hours around the castle. There’s so much going on and there isn’t time to sit and talk o-or think. The second you sit down, you have to stand right back up.” He took in a deep breath of air. “I miss it. Hell, I don’t even know if three weeks is really what it seems. The days here could be longer or shorter than I think they are. It might just be my imagination making it seem like the day and night are the same as on Earth. Maybe that’s the homesick me talking? O-Or I’m just so used to that time system. I grew up on it, of course I’m used to it.”

Keith let out a sigh as his nose stung. He knew the feeling all too well. Soon, the tears would start coming. That or, if his eyes decided they were too dry, they would just stung and remain red. He wiped his forehead of sweat with his shirt.

“Over this time, I’ve realized I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my own decisions. I was being selfish and guided by anger. I wanted revenge against someone so bad for the murder of so many that I drove myself to fall into a trap. If not a trap, just to my death.”

He hiccuped. The tears started to fall down his face as he looked down at his lap. He rested his head against his knees and sobbed. It continued for a few moments. It was completely silent except for him. 

“I don’t want to die.” He muttered out. Before long, he lifted his red and soaked face back up to look at the camera. He shook his head before repeating the phrase. “I don’t want to die. Not here. Not here where no one will have a chance to save me. Not here where I can’t even seem to save myself!”

He took in a deep breath and shook his head again. He reached up and turned off the camera before he could sputter anything else out. The whole bay remained silent except for the occasional hiccup or sob.

_”Keith?”_

_Keith looked up from the floor to see Lance in his doorway. He sighed and went back to the knife in his hand. Lance frowned._

_“Hunk made dinner for everyone.”_

_“How is it different from any other day?”_

_“I just thought you’d want to know. You’re usually out there already, but right now you’re sulking in your room.”_

_“I am not sulking!” Keith snapped and glared at Lance. Lance only frowned more and rubbed his arms as he looked away._

_“We’ll leave a space open for you.”_

_And Lance was gone. The door closed and Keith didn’t think about it. He put his knife on his desk before getting up to crawl into bed. They had a long battle earlier. He needed to rest. Before long, his door opened again._

_“Keith?”_

_Keith only grumbled quietly at the sound of Lance’s voice. He didn’t move from where he was or even acknowledge the other._

_“Hunk made dinner for everyone.”_

_“You’ve already told me.”_

_“No, I didn’t.”_

_“Just get out already.”_

_Lance sighed and looked away. “Okay, then. I’ll tell them to leave you a plate.”_

_The door closed and Keith cringed. It wasn’t long until before it opened again. Keith rolled over on to his side and hoped whoever it was would just leave._

_“Keith?”_

_It was Lance again. He came asking with the same exact tone and everything. Keith cringed, but didn’t move._

_“Hunk made dinner for everyone.”_

_Keith bit his lip but didn’t say a word. He was turned away from Lance._

_“Keith?”_

_Nothing from Keith._

_“Are you asleep?”_

_Still nothing._

_“I’ll tell them to leave you a plate. Have a nice night.”_

_Lance left. Keith bit his lip before rolling over to stare at the door. This was a prank. It had to be a prank. There was no way that this wasn’t a prank._

_The door opened and Lance peaked his head in. He waved when he saw Keith._

_“Keith?”_

_“That’s my name.”_

_“Hunk made dinner for everyone.” Lance smiled and adjusted himself._

_“I know.”_

_“Did you smell it already?”_

_“No, you’ve told me a handful of fucking times already?”_

_Lance furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. “Are you okay?”_

_“I’m fine, Lance.” Keith grumbled before adjusting his pillow. “Just leave.”_

_“Okay. I’ll tell them to-”_

_“-Leave me a plate! I fucking know already!”_

_Lance stared at him for a few seconds before looking away. He rubbed his arms before leaving. The door closed and Keith was left alone once again. He waited. His pillow was squished in his grip. Slowly, he let go in hopes that the prank was over._

_Soon enough, the door opened. Lance peaked his head in and waved at Keith. Keith tensed right back up._

_“Keith?”_

_“That’s my fucking name!”_

_Lance hesitated before gulping and nodded. “Yeah, it is. Look, uh, Hunk-”_

_“-Made dinner for everyone. I know!” Keith glared at him. He grit his teeth._

_“Look, if you don’t want to have dinner with us, it’s fine. We’ll leave you a spot.”_

_“Why don’t you stop with this repeating bullshit and leave me alone?” Keith snapped and stood up._

_Lance hesitated longer than his first time around. He looked down at the ground before storming off. The door closed behind him quick enough to muddle the sound of his frustration. It wasn’t long until it opened again to reveal Lance. He looked perfectly fine again._

_“Keith?”_

_Before Lance could get out another word, Keith pushed him out of the doorway. His hands went right through and Lance disappeared. The castle’s walls flickered softly before they disappeared. Keith wasn’t in the lion, but instead surrounded by Galran architecture. He frowned, his eyes growing wide as he realized where he was._

_He looked around for anything to use as a weapon. There was a small grunt from another prison near him. He rushed to find it, only finding Lance looking back at him, barely alive._

_“Keith…?”_

_Keith took Lance’s hand and glanced behind him. “It’s okay. I’ll get us out.”_

_“Why are you holding my hand?”_

_He bit his lip as he looked back at Lance. He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. It’s okay.”_

_“What’s okay?”_

_“I’ll get us out of here. We can get back to the castle and it’ll be okay.”_

_Keith pulled away and searched for some way to open the door. Lance didn’t say a word. Though, when Keith looked back, Lance was gone. He rushed back to the window and looked around inside. Nothing._

_“Lance?”_

_“Right here.”_

_Keith’s face pressed against the wall from the pressure against the back of his head. He frowned._

_“Do you think I’d let you get away?”_

_“Lance?”_

_“I knew you were too good to be true. A good Galra? Seriously?”_

_“Lance, I-”_

_“Shut it.”_

_“Lance, calm down.”_

_“I said to shut it!”_

_“Please-”_

_Keith closed his eyes and all grew dark. When he opened them again, he was in a field of flowers. It looked like a place his dad once took him, but on top of the hill sat Lance with a picnic. Keith bit his lip. Lance waved at him._

_“Get over here before your food gets cold!” Lance called._

_Keith rubbed his arms and started up the hill. It took some time, but when he finally arrived, he looked over everything. Lance patted the spot next to him on the blanket. Keith sat down. Lance started to serve their food with a grin._

_“My abuelita made it for us.”_

_“Abuelita…?” Keith looked around before landing his eyes on Lance._

_“My grandmother.” Lance clarified. “Spanish, you know?”_

_Keith nodded and continued to watch him. Lance eventually looked back and grinned. He raised an eyebrow before speaking up._

_“Checking me out or something?”_

_Keith looked back down at his lap immediately, his face growing redder by the second. Lance laughed. It was one of his nicer laughs, cute in a way and, if it continued long enough, he would snort. Lance went back to unpacking everything._

_“It’s alright if you are. I don’t mind.”_

_“You don’t?” Keith furrowed his eyebrows._

_“I would do the same.”_

_Keith chuckled, though not as good as Lance’s laugh was. He smiled softly, both at the sound and the sight. He couldn’t think of anything better at the moment. To be honest, he felt like he was in some Ed Sheeran song or something._

_When Lance finished setting up everything, he served Keith’s plate and handed it to him. Keith looked up to take it and looked over it. He didn’t have a clue what any of it was._

_“Cuban food. Authentic.” Lance laughed a bit more before pointing out something with his fork. “This is Boliche and these are Tostones. Finally, these are tamales.”_

_“I recognize the last one. Didn’t know they looked like that, though.”_

_“They’re really good. My abuelita makes them by scratch, along with ninety-nine percent of the food we eat at my place.”_

_Lance pulled away to start eating his own food. Keith started to eat and before long, Lance was staring at him. He glanced up from his food and looked back at him._

_“Did you need something?”_

_“You’ve got food on your face?” Lance smiled and motioned to Keith’s face. “Near your mouth.”_

_“Hm?”_

_“Here.”_

_Lance leaned over and wiped Keith’s face with a napkin before stopping slowly. He stayed close before staring up in to Keith’s eyes. Lance leaned in to kiss him. When he pulled away, Keith only continued to stare at him. Lance frowned._

_“Did you not like that?”_

_“I liked it.” Keith mumbled. “I’m just a bit shocked.”_

_Lance’s smile came back and he took Keith’s hand. “Can I do it again?”_

_Keith nodded. “Absolutely.”_

_Lance leaned in again._

Keith shot up from his sleep and cringed when the whiplash hit him. He leaned on one of his elbows as he grabbed his head with the other. He groaned before laying back down. Keeping his eyes closed, he grit his teeth until the pain went away. When it did, he stayed where he was. He was sweating like mad, both from the nightmare, whatever that was, and from the facial hair he had grown over the time. It wasn’t much, though. He was cursed to be one of those guys who couldn’t grow a beard for the hell of it.

He frantically glanced around, comforted by the appearance of familiar and friendly architecture. He grabbed a bottle of water and immediately downed it. The second he finished, he regretted it. He should have just done half of it or even a quarter. He should have just gotten even a sip and left it alone. It wasn’t even cold at this point. Nonetheless, he should have saved it, but, as much as he has tried, he cannot change the past.

After staying where he was for a few minutes, he eventually reached for the camera and turned it on to record.

“Hey.” He made out before stopping again.

Keith bit his lip and rubbed the back of his neck before sitting up. He held the camera in his lap. He looked down at it and tried to smile, though it was long too foreign to his face and was not easy to achieve.

“It’s Keith.” He cleared his throat. “Don’t worry. It’s just a bit more of a beard than it was when I last checked in. I’m so spooked right now that I can’t even remember when that was, sadly.”

He glanced around for a few seconds before settling back down at the camera. He didn’t say anything for the longest time, instead prompting to sit there with his mouth open. Suddenly, he wiped at his eyes and cleared his throat once again.

“Loneliness has gotten to me. I thought I was lonely before this, but…” he whispered, “not like this. The feeling of actually being alone is much worse than thinking you’re alone while surrounded by people. Nothing is as bad as this. There can’t be something worse. Even so, the worse part of it all… it’s when you know you could have prevented it. If I wasn’t the hot-headed stereotype of the team, if I hadn’t wanted to continue, if I hadn’t wanted to chase after them, I would still be with my team. The paladins, they’re the only family it seems I have anymore.”

Keith desperately wiped at his eyes again, cringing at how wet his face had become. He felt pitiful in his position.

“What if they’re not even looking for me anymore? Hell, if they were still trying to find me, it would be for the lion and not me. I clearly failed at a Paladin. I couldn’t even stay with the team! I-I-” he trailed off and stayed silent for the longest time. He gulped before whispering, “I was an idiot hot-head who could not admit he was wrong for once. I guess the stereotype was correct.”

 

He sighed, removing his hand from his face. There was no point to hide it anymore. No one was even around to inform him that he was just being a wuss. There was no yelling, no stomping, no arguing, just silence. His hiccups broke the tension every once and awhile.

“I’m signing off.” He mumbled, his eyes staring off at the distance and no longer at the camera. He fumbled with the camera before finding the off button. Letting it fall into his lap, he kept his eyes glue to the wall.

Eventually, he sighed and looked back down at the camera in his lap. With careful hands, he lifted it and put it back where it was before he recorded. In the state he was in, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get anything done. A mental day is well spent after countless days of endless work leading to nowhere.

But, one mental day turned into two, three, a whole week. Keith stayed in bed unless he had to move, opting to let his emotions eat him out alive. As much as it was wasting time, it was letting his leg heal for a long time without putting pressure on it. That was the only really good part. That time was just a waste of resources, but he couldn’t justify the idea that resting and not being productive means he shouldn’t use any of the supplies he had. That was across the line he refused to cross.

_”Keith?”_

_Lance watched Keith sit up and took in a deep breath before smiling. Keith clenched his jaw as Lance leaned against the doorframe. He bit his lip. They avoided eye contact._

_“Did you want to go see the stars with me? They’re nice right now. Everyone else is asleep so it feels like it’s the middle of the night.” Lance whispered just loud enough for Keith to hear. “There’s a few constellations that are similar to ones from home.”_

_Keith sighed before shaking his head. Lance frowned as Keith spoke. “I’m busy.”_

_Lance froze for a second before nodding. He whispered quieter than before. “Right. You always seem to be.”_

_Without another word Lance left, letting the door close behind him. He held his arms close to his chest as he started to walk down the hallway. He passed the kitchen, knowing full well Hunk would see the walk of shame. Lance got to the room he would have taken Keith and sat down. The tears fell down silently. With one glance and attempt to say something, Hunk decided it wasn’t his place to talk quite yet._

_Around Lance was a blanket from home, Earth. His grandmother had sewed it for him to use for special occasions. On top? A picnic for two that Hunk had prepared. But, sadly, there was no way for Keith to know it ever existed._

It was a while before Keith got out of bed and back to work. Though, he was slow, cautious, and really didn’t put effort into anything he was doing. Whether it was searching for more supplies or fixing the lion, it felt hopeless to him now. Even if they did find him, they’d find the true Keith. Here he was not guided by the adrenaline he got from so many things around the castle. Here he was just Keith, a shell of a person who lost faith. He had almost stopped working towards his rescue. It all seemed hopeless now.

His anger slowly faded. Once fueled by useless rivalries and then the feeling of uselessness, it faded away when it all really started to settle in. He was going to die here. No one was going to find him. He wasn’t going to be able to fix the lion. The universe was going to die. Voltron was done for. It was all because of him. He failed everyone.

Slam. Knock. Shot.

Keith jumped up form the box he was sitting on. He looked around. When he saw nothing out of the ordinary, he frowned. He was starting to hear things.

Knock. Knock. Shot.

No, he wasn’t hearing things. That sounded too real. He grabbed his bayard and rushed around to find the source of the noise. If it was a whole colony of those animals coming for him, he was going to be done for.

Knock. Shot. Shot.

The door. It was coming from the door. He didn’t have time to get his armor on. He’d have to deal with what he had.

Shot. Growl. Knock.

It was definitely the animals. They were smart enough to come for him. They’d break in eventually if he didn’t go out there to fight.

Shot. Knock. Shot.

Something buzzed from the cargo bay. He ignored it and stopped before the sensor for the door to open triggered.

Knock. Slam. Shot.

Keith took one step forward, bayard ready in hand, and watched carefully as the door opened. Slowly, he dropped it again at the sight in front of him. Lance was there, waiting. He grinned at the sight of Keith and held out his hand. Keith stayed where he was.

“Keith?”

“Lance?” Keith whispered. He took a few more steps forward.

Lance reached out his hand further to him. “I’m right here, Keith.”

Keith ignored the tears he was producing and rushed to pull Lance into a hug. When he pulled away, he noticed the scenery and how different it was than what he remembered. They were in a forest, something right out of some cliche alien movie. Purple trees with leaves line vines with cherry blossoms. He smiled at the sight. When he looked back at Lance, the lion was gone from behind him.

“It’s beautiful.” Keith whispered.

Lance took Keith’s hand, making him look back at the other. They stared into each other’s eyes for a few moments before Keith looked away again. The trees seemed to go on forever. The grass grew past his ankles and tickled his toes.

“It’s wonderfully beautiful.” He whispered a bit louder. “I would have never imagined such a place as nice.”

“It’s better with you here. It’s brighter, now. It used to be dull.” Lance chuckled and brought Keith close to his chest.

“How did you find me?” Keith asked, looking up at Lance’s face. Lance smiled down at him.

“We put everything towards trying to find you.”

Keith leaned his head against Lance’s shoulder and let them rock back and forth. Keith closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of air. Lance stayed still.

“I missed you.” He whispered.

“I know.” Lance responded, a small smile growing on his face.

“I have a lot to say and tell. I-I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to admit some of it to myself.”

“Well, you admitted that you missed me, despite saying you hated me. That’s a start.” He paused. “What about how you really feel about me?”

Keith nodded softly before opening his eyes to look around. “Where’s the others?”

“Others?”

“The other paladins. Allura? Coran?”

“They’re not here, yet. Just close your eyes, I’m right here.”

Keith closed his eyes again and Lance held him even closer. It almost felt like home. _Almost._ He took in a deep breath of air only to jolt on pain. He looked around, but Lance cupped his face before he could see what had attack his leg. Keith grit his teeth.

“Calm down.” 

“What the hell was that?” Keith asked, raising his voice. He tensed. “What the hell is happening?”

Lance shook his head and kept his voice quiet and calm. “Nothing that you need to worry about anymore. Just stay here and calm down.”

Keith stared at Lance for a few seconds before slowly resting against his chest again. He stayed like that before the pain came back, only higher up his leg. He pulled away and toppled down to the ground. Lance stared down at him with a smile. When he looked at his leg, Keith noticed the vine slowly winding up his leg.

“Calm down and listen to me.” Lance whispered. “It’ll all be fine.”

Keith tried to get up only to be forced back down. The vines were slowly pulling on his arms. His leg that was first attacked was being pulled into the dirt. When he opened his mouth, a vine twisted over his face and blocked any sound from coming out. Lance continued to stand there with a smile.

“You’ll be alright Keith. Don’t struggle. It’ll get you out of here.”

“Keith!”

“It’ll be all okay.”

“Keith!”

Keith closed his eyes and kept struggling.

“Any moment now and all the pain will end.”

“Keith!”

Keith’s eyes snapped back open. He was back on the red planet. The dust filled his nostrils. Above him were a pack of the creatures. He quickly reached for his knife, but found it gone. A laser shot above his head and killed the one at his head. Another two blue shots and the two at his legs were gone. When he looked up, he saw Lance. Not the fake, evil Lance, but the genuine Lance.

“Get up already! You’re a sitting duck there!”

Keith quickly tried to get up only to fall over. Lance caught him and let Keith rest his body against his as he continued the attack. Keith closed his eyes and refused to say a word. Lance kept it up before getting orders to take Keith back into the lion. Lance dragged him inside and let him sit down. He squatted down to look over him.

“Fancy seeing you here.” Lance muttered. Keith only snorted, causing Lance to burst into a grin. “That was the only cute sound that’s ever come out of your mouth.”

“Cute?” Keith grit his teeth. _”Cute?”_

“Yeah, cute. You heard me.”

“How did you even-”

“-Find you? It wasn’t easy. Of course, we couldn’t contact you because your communications were offline. Pidge did notice, eventually, that occasionally they would go online before dropping again. She exploited it and tracked down your location as best as she could. When we went into that area, she waited for another window to do it. Were you messing with the wires or something?”

Keith didn’t respond and instead leaned more heavily against the wall. Lance kept working to wrap the wounds on his legs.

“Don’t worry about the paint for now. I’m just wrapping it so we can get you to the castle without you dying on us. Then, we’ll put you in a pod and let you recover.”

“Sounds like a fucking plan.”

“Watch your language.”

“Fuck you.”

Lance stopped to chuckle. He looked up at Keith before looking back at his leg. “What happened to you all this time? If it wasn’t for me, you would have just let yourself die.”

“Long story.”

“Keith.”

“I’d rather focus on getting out of here and my lion back up and running than my experience right now.” Keith snapped.

The door opened and Pidge came inside. She smiled at the sight of Keith and rushed over. “You look terrible.”

“No shit.”

She frowned and looked at Lance. “I thought we made a rule about no cursing? Allura and Coran didn’t like how vicious it was, remember?” She asked.

“Right, only Altean cursing. It’s not as bad.” Keith taunted. “We can’t be seen cursing for diplomatic reasons.”

“Yeah, that.” Lance muttered.

Keith closed his eyes. He cringed as Lance worked. Pidge sat down next to him to supervise. Outside, the sounds had stopped. The battle must have ended. Keith looked at the door, thinking that somebody would eventually come. Lance kept working with no sign of anyone else coming inside. Keith sighed. Were they even here? Was it just Lance and Pidge? What had happened?

It took Keith a few seconds to say something. “Where are the others?”

“They’re figuring out a way to get your lion into the castle to regain power.” Pidge explained. “Hunk planned on bringing his lion and just carrying yours back inside.”

“I didn’t ask you.” Keith muttered.

“I was the one who had the answer.”

Lance huffed. “I knew what was going on.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, I did!”

“You two are hurting my ears.” Keith complained before gritting his teeth. “Couldn’t those things just rip my ears off while they were at it.”

“Your ears are cute, though.”

Pidge burst into laughter the second Lance muttered out that sentence. Keith opened one of his eyes and raised an eyebrow, looking at Lance. His whole face was red as he continued to work without a word. Keith chuckled quietly.

“Are you seriously flirting with him right now?” Pidge made out before getting up. “Oh god, this is too good.”

“Don’t you dAre go telling the others that just happened!” Lance glared up at Pidge. “Don’t you dare-”

“Too late.” Pidge responded as she left the lion. The door closed behind her.

Keith breathed in and out peacefully without the noise. Lance sighed and went back to working. He pulled out a roll of bandages. Without a word, he started to wrap everything up.

“Jesus Christ.” Lance eventually breathed out.

“Cute…? Again? Really?” Keith snorted.

“Yes! I said it! There! Is everyone happy now?” Lance snapped. He avoided looking at the other. He had tensed up.

“Lance, we’re the only ones here now.” Keith whispered and placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder carefully. “It’s fine.”

Lance took in a deep breath of air and let his shoulders fall. “Well everyone seems to be making fun of me for think you’re cute right now, so yeah.” He bit his lip.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you be so forward about this type of stuff.” Keith mumbled, still not having processed most of what Lance had said. There was still a voice in the back of his head that told him this was all just another illusion. “Except when you’re trying to impress some lady.” He finally finished.

“I’ve been trying to impress you for God only knows how long.”

“Lance?”

“What?”

“Look at me.”

Lance looked up to stare at Keith. After a few seconds, Keith reached up to pat Lance’s cheek. He leaned in and pressed his forehead against Lance’s. Lance took in a sharp breath of air.

“What are you doing…?” He choked out.

“I missed you.” Keith whispered and closed his eyes. “A lot.”

Lance stayed silent for a few seconds, taking in Keith’s face from so close.

“You have a beard. It’s tickling my face.” Lance chuckled softly. “It’s not even a beard! It’s just weird. Strangle-y and stuff.”

Keith snorted. “You think you could do better?”

“I _know_ I can do better.”

“Prove it to me.”

Lance laughed as he shook his head. “It’ll be a couple weeks. If you are patient enough, we can really test that.”

Keith coughed and pulled away. He glanced around. “Let’s get back to the castle.” He mumbled. “Please?”

Lance nodded and got up. He helped Keith get up and let him lean against his shoulder as they walked. Taking it slow, one careful step at a time. The door to the outside opened in front of them. Keith was quick to cover his mouth and nose with his shirt. Lance, on the other hand, stopped and removed his helmet. He slipped it over Keith’s head.

“I’ll worry about the dust. You worry on other things.”

Keith smiled and nodded. Leaning against Lance more, he started to walk. One step wrong and he cringed, prompting to stay in that spot for a few seconds longer than the rest of the stops to recover. He smiled at the sight of the castle, ignoring his tears.

“Welcome home, Keith.” Lance whispered.

“Just kiss me already.”

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: mesoquatic


End file.
